Marx-Engels Letters 1843

Letter to the Editor of the
Démocratie Pacifique


Written: Paris, December 10, 1843;
Source: Marx Engels Collected Works Vol 3, pg 132;
Publisher: International Publishers (1975);
First Published: the Démocratie pacifique, December 11, 1843;
Translated Jack Cohen for the Collected Works;
Transcribed: S. Ryan;
HTML Markup: S. Ryan.


No. 28 of the Bien public contains the following lines:

"The Kölnische Zeitung publishes a letter from Leipzig in which it is stated that a journal in French and German is due to appear shortly in Paris under the editorship of Dr. Ruge, to which M. de Lamartine and M. de Lamennais are said to have promised their collaboration.

"It is not true that M. de Lamartine has undertaken to write in any journal and, in particular, in the one in question, with M. de Lamennais.

"M. de Lamartine, who is wholly absorbed in his parliamentary work, is reserving for the Histoire des Girondins the little leisure that politics leaves him."

It is true that M. de Lamartine has not undertaken to write for the journal in question with M. de Lamennais, but we affirm that he has let us hope for his collaboration in the journal that we are proposing to found.

In addressing ourselves separately to these two famous personages, we have been prompted by the belief that for a work such as that of an intellectual alliance between France and Germany one should seek the support of all eminent representatives of progress in France.

Furthermore, we declare that the letter from Leipzig published by the Kölnische Zeitung, which gave rise to the article in the Bien public, did not emanate from us or from any of our friends.


Arnold Ruge,
former editor of the Deutsche Jahrbücher

Charles Marx,
former editor of the Rheinische Zeitung

Paris, December 10, 1843